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The new Thomas organ at Monte Carlo Cathedral

Started by David Pinnegar, August 30, 2011, 10:22:43 AM

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David Pinnegar

Hi!

Having seen a photo of the new organ at Monte Carlo which was dubbed the "ugliest organ in the world", being on an organ crawl in the region I went to visit. (I do hope that other members will report on their summer organ crawls too). Having initially dismissed the project as a mere vulgar display of wealth, upon visiting and also going up to see the instrument itself, I am now entirely of another opinion - that it's a very exciting high profile project which pushes the organ more appropriately into the public eye - and also the sound into the room into the bargain.

I'll write more on the instrument in due course but
http://www.orgues-thomas.com/website/
http://www.monacomontecarlo.com/tag/manufacture-dorgue-thomas-de-spa/
http://www.monacomontecarlo.com/2011/03/07/reconstruction-de-l%E2%80%99orgue-de-la-cathedrale-de-monaco/
http://orgue-libre.bbactif.com/t46p105-futur-orgue-de-la-cathedrale-de-monaco

gives a start

The spec of the Positif tells us that it's an interesting instrument with a Tiercelette 4/5-1 3/5

Best wishes

David P


dragonser

Hi,
lots and lots of drawstops !
most interesting, regards  Peter B

David Pinnegar


David Pinnegar

Hi!

What an event yesterday was! Over 500 people came to the recital drawing all ages, whole families and couples, a remarkable contrast to the usual profile of UK audiences. Being near to Nice, Monaco has a lot of support as a place of culture for a large population.

The programme, performed by Olivier Vernet, included:
Louis Marchand - Grand dialogue in Ut
Georg Boehm - Partita sur "Ach wie nichtig, achwie fluchtig"
Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata et Fugue "Dorienne" BWV542 , Choral "Nun komm 'der Heiden Heiland'" BWV659
Felix Mendelssohn - Prélude et fugue en ut mineur
Henri Carol - Priere a Notre Dame de Miséricorde
Charles-Marie Widor - Allego de la Sixieme symphonie op 42/2
Louis Vierne - Adagio de la Troisieme symphonie op28
Gunnar Idenstam - Kethdral Musik - Dance II - Aria II - Toccata

Periodically the organ case changed colour and at very excitable points flowed with waves of colour, drawing much attention.

The instrument has been brought out into the body of the cathedral space. Whether it was on account of the number of packed audience or on account of the acoustic interference with the west wall, I'm not sure, but the reverberation time was not as one would expect from an apsed cathedral of this kind. When I went a couple of years ago to a concert on the instrument as it was, and had not been struck by a damp acoustic.

The concert was well received. The nature of the audience was that they clapped between movements and even merely after a loud passage. The louder the organ roared, the louder and more they clapped, standing up with enthusiasm and especially to see the excitement of the case.

Musically, whilst personally I felt the instrument to be too loud in general, having to rely only on the swell box to tame it to quiet sections but that was my personal opinion. My three sons thought it great, which is the main thing, but we all ascribed "unsubtle" to its qualities.

We thought, however, that perhaps our seating position only some 20 yards or so away from the west end might have led to our perceptions of loudness and that it would probably have been better at the sanctuary end.

Perhaps the loudness was only in the registrations chosen, but my crystal ball predicts that within 20 years Olivier Vernet will have suffered severe hearing damage sitting at the console among all of those loud pipes.

On a very minor detailed note, the Cromorne does not have the character of St Maximin . . . Currently also strikingly the Celeste is strong and is particularly fast beating - between possibly 6 or more beats per second. Tuning was still being carried out just until around 40 minutes before the recital and so there are no doubt areas of attention that might yet be given to the instrument in the course of learning how to fly it . . .

The bottom line is that this instrument, whatever my personal opinions, is just what the organ world needs, screaming (and one or two mixture notes did) "THE ORGAN IS THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS - DON'T FORGET - LISTEN TO ME ABOVE ALL THE NOISE OF YOUR MACHINES AND MP3s". Reception of the instrument was good and it does the job of promoting the instrument, as something special, extremely well.

Best wishes

David P

David Pinnegar